Hard to believe it’s nearly been a year since we first covered the story of Norm Ryan, the former Haven Humane Society CEO accused of taking money from the animal shelter.
On Tuesday Ryan will go to trial on charges of embezzling $1,387 from Haven.
From the get-go this story has been as twisted as the road to Buckhorn Summit.
The Jan. 30 preliminary hearing transcript showcases such details as how Yvonne Preston, former Haven president and interim CEO, asked the Redding Police Department to investigate Ryan for a colorful list of accusations, none of which RPD was able to pin on Ryan:
$300,000 unaccounted for, missing “doggie bank” money, receipt of “unauthorized” Blue Cross money, and Blue Cross Cobra money, among other things. (Read more about these details in the transcript here on pages 22 through 27.)
Absent those above charges, the case against Ryan boiled down to a conference in Chicago he never attended, and a personal trip to Guam. Was there some misunderstanding? Was he lying? Whose money did he use for travel? Did he falsify airline documents? (Read about it here on pages 27 through 29.)
The name of Leonard Moty, the previous Redding Police Chief, even came up. The transcript reported that Moty and Ryan had a “bitter disagreement” regarding the relocation of the police department. (Read transcript pages 37 to 39 for more.)
So a year has passed. Ryan and his family have remained in Redding.
Sources say he’s been unemployed since he left Haven, that he’s lived on money from the sale of his Long Beach house before he moved to Redding; money the Ryan’s had planned to use for their sons’ education. He’s applied for a couple of minimum wage warehouse jobs, without success. (No wonder. Google Norm Ryan and see what pops up.)
Come Tuesday, Ryan’s story continues. For better or worse.
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See below for more background:
Feb. 26 – Kelly wrote about Norm Ryan’s arraignment.
Jan. 30 – Kelly wrote that Norm would stand trial for his charges of ripping off Haven Humane Society.
Click here to read all the related stories, and click here to read Kelly’s blog more than a year ago (before she and I joined forces on A News Cafe) about Norm Ryan’s departure from Haven.
